Demitasse - Horses & Students

The hunting teacup isn't the only horsey teacup in my china cabinet. I have a second, smaller one that I found in an antique shop.

It's actually a demitasse cup. A standard teacup holds a cup of liquid; a demitasse hold a half cup.

Having taught Greek roots and mythology to my students, the red and black coloring (typical of early Greek art) caught my eye before the horses did.

Sure enough, this demitasse cup was made in Greece.

It wasn't until I took these photos that I realized that the horses are actually in pairs, not singly as I'd always thought.

The long red symbol reminds me of the Rod of Asclepius or a Caduceus, both of which are associated with Greek mythology and, in modern times, with medicine. 

I used to bring the Greek demitasse cup into my classroom as an example of Greek artwork. As a result, not only does it represent my love of horses, it also is a reminder of some pretty special times with students in my classroom.

Saturday Scramble

It's Saturday and I am scrambling! There is a lot going on here that needs my attention right away.

Just as I suspected, with live showing resuming and BreyerFest approaching, more people are buying haversacks.

I've got seven custom orders that I am currently working on and trying to get finished. 

I'm still sorting and cleaning my collection and while I have gotten some things organized, I haven't yet started the major part of actually rearranging the models.

Meanwhile, I am using our upstairs family room as a place to put things while I sort. Craig is so patient - he hasn't said one word about all the boxes and things that are blocking his access to his library. They've been there two weeks!

Teacher Daughter Lisa is camping with Local Son Curt and Music City Son Cole and their families right now, so we have Molly and Nash with us while she's on vacation.

Molly, Nash, and Pepper trying to convince me to share my lunch with them.

We love having her dogs here, but they do need to be walked, played with, and let in and out (and in and out and in and out...) which takes me away from sewing and rearranging.

A typical Nash pose - sprawled on the ground with his toys at the ready should Pepper decide she's up for (another) round of play.

It's graduation season and I have been invited to a lot of graduation parties. Talk about a wonderful moment - to see your former students finishing high school and ready for the next phase of their lives!

When this sweet gal was in my classroom, she gave me two model horses from her own collection. I still have them. (And treasure them.)

I taught both these young men. You never know what you will find out about former students when you get a chance to catch up... 

The one on the right has learned fire eating - "just for fun" and because he was curious how it was done. Yikes!!

Also on my calendar has been virtually "attending" several graduations.

Horse Buddy Trinity graduated out in Aurora, Colorado. Attendance was limited, so we live streamed the ceremony and saw her graduate that way. (Trin's on the left and with her is her bestie, Aspen.) 

On the docket for today is another graduation party, going to the barn, caring for the dogs, doing laundry, and then if I still have time, heading back to the sewing table.

But those plans may also go out the window - my car died and I am trying to find a new (used) car to replace it. 

Yesterday, prepared with a list of cars we wanted to look at, four sold in the morning before we even got to the car lot. We were ready to close the deal on another car and went to the bank to get a certified check, but when we returned to the dealership, we discovered that someone had offered cash for the same car and it had been sold.

Things will settle down eventually, but in the meantime, I am scrambling!

 

50th Anniversary: Mrs. I Goes to School

In 1995, it was time for me to go after a long held dream - getting my teaching credentials. By then my kids were all in school and I had an open block of time from 8-3 every day. We were financially stable and so I quit my early morning vending box route and enrolled in school. (We did keep the kids' afternoon paper routes.)

I graduated from the University of Illinois in 1998 and was hired to teach at Yankee Ridge Elementary School in Urbana.  

I'll never forget walking into my classroom for the first time and opening a desk drawer.

Inside was an amber blown glass horse that the previous teacher had left behind. I kept that little horse in my desk throughout my teaching career and it's in my desk here at home now.

I had some interesting horsey connections while teaching. Remember Royal Kaliber and his rider Chris Kappler? Chris's cousin was in my 2003 - 2004 class, and she and her mom kept me up to date on Chris and Royal Kaliber's appearance in the 2004 Olympics.

They took team silver and the bronze individual in show jumping. Sadly, Royal Kaliber injured his leg and then died of colic shortly after his medal winning appearances. (Photo by Getty Images.)

Breyer honored Royal Kaliber by making a model of him in 2004. Only 750 were released but I was able to get one. (Photo from Google Images; mine is boxed away.)

In 2006 we moved back home to Indiana where Craig finished out his career at Purdue. I had been teaching as well as working on my Masters degree at the University of Illinois but was able to wrap it up and graduate a few short weeks before we packed up and returned to Indiana.

Despite being in Boilermaker country, I decorated my new classroom in the orange and blues of the University of Illinois. (They are also the colors of the high school my students would graduate from so the kids didn't mind.) 

Imagine my trepidation, though, several years later when I looked at my new roster of students and saw a very familiar last name on it. The father of one of my new students was Matt Painter, the head coach of Purdue's men's basketball team. And my classroom was decorated to celebrate one of Purdue's main rivals!

Good dad that he is, Matt came to parent/teacher conferences despite his very busy coaching schedule. I'll never forget him coming through my classroom door that first time. He stopped in the doorway and surveyed all that orange and blue a moment before coming all the way in. Flustered, I  greeted him and apologized, mumbling something about having graduated from the UI and that I really did root for Purdue, too.

Matt burst out laughing and told me not to worry - his grandfather had been a professor at the UI and he'd spent his summers there as a kid. He told me that he was quite fond of the University of Illinois and we had a good laugh together.

I taught a lot of really nice kids during my career. And sometimes they would bring me horsey gifts.

Take a look at this orange balloon horse  - a student made that for me!  His hobby was making balloon animals, probably the most unusual hobby any of my students had.

The color in the photo is off, but this is an orange and blue horse plus a blue I for Illinois/Mrs. I, the name I went by at school.

After reading the classic, Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, another student gave me a Black Beauty ornament one Christmas. I still get it out every year and hang it on my tree.

The passion for orange and blue spilled into my hobby life, and I switched Windsong's colors from blue and yellow to orange.

And open my tack trunk and you find a lot of orange and blue, too.

Why am I so attached to the University of Illinois? After all, I am from West Lafayette and did three years of study here at Purdue before becoming an Illini. My grandfather came to Purdue in 1927 to be a professor in the Horticulture Department, my parents and siblings all went to Purdue, and so has Local Son Curt. There is a long Boilermaker tradition in my family. So, why?

I interrupted my own education when I married Craig in 1976, and I vowed at the time that I would finish. All that orange and blue represent the hard work it took to go back to school at age 38 with six kids still all at home. They remind me of the culmination of that dream of finishing my education and then going into the classroom and working hard to make a difference in the lives of my students.

It took me 22 years, but I did it. 

Look for another blog post later today announcing the winner of the fourth giveaway!

The Neighboring Farm

There are about twenty horses spread over four horse properties that are clustered around Tim's place.    

A view of two of those horse properties. The pastures in the middle and on the left are Tim's, but the homes and barns in the background are two of the other farms.

When I drive down the lane to the new barn, I often see the other horses out at pasture or even being worked in an outdoor arena that is next to the lane.

Teacher Daughter Lisa has two students, twins, who live on one of those farms. They like to visit Abby knowing that she belongs to their teacher's mother. 

 And sometimes they even decorate their schoolwork with drawings of Abby. Reminds me of how I drew horses all over my work when I was a young girl!) Lisa will take a photo of their doodling and send it to me knowing that it makes me smile.

 Tim got back last night, but I still went out this morning to do a barn check. And as I drove down the lane, the twins' horses were right by the fence and so I took some quick snaps.

I don't know their names (I really should ask Teacher Daughter to ask the girls) so I call this one Black Diamond. I think he's cute even with mud and a winter coat!

 Two goats live with the horses. I am not a goat girl but I snapped their picture anyway.

I call this one Casper (as in, Casper the Friendly Ghost.) I have had two white horses, Indy and St. Nick, and I remember how muddy looking they could get. 

There is a snowstorm coming through tonight and tomorrow that is supposed to also bring us some ice. I don't drive on ice, so I may not be able to visit the herd for a day or two. Good thing Tim is back in town!

Doubly Thoughtful Students

I had a surprise when I unlocked and opened my classroom door this morning - a piece of paper had been shoved underneath it and was lying on the carpet.

 It was from three girls who had been in my room the past two years and are now sixth graders at East Tipp. (I think they must've been in the building the previous evening for kindergarten registration.)

Dear Mrs. Isenbarger,

We really miss you over here at East Tipp! Thank you for all you've done for us and to prepare us for middle school. We miss our classmates and buddies. We really miss classics on Friday. I wish we could see you when the 5th graders came to visit! I think we are speaking for all the former multiagers.  Please continue to do what you have been. Please tell the class we said "hi." Is it all right if we come and visit our buddies?

Thank you!
Sophie A.
Jessica G.
Emily P.

They want to visit their buddies? Wow. The buddies will LOVE that. I spoke with Mrs. Fields about their request and she is going to work with Mr. Buss, East Tipp's principal, to see if it can be arranged. These girls will be so happy! (And so will their buddies.)

And then, just before Math, I got a second dose of thoughtfulness, this time from my current students. TM (the gal who has already gifted me with two model horses from her collection), LW, and AD approached me with huge smiles  and obviously concealing something behind their backs.

A book on horse breeds from the Hershey book fair! (And actually, I had just bought the same book to send to Trinity!) These three kiddos pooled their money to buy me a book, and tailored it to an out-of-school interest I have. 

Talk about sweet and thoughtful children. Lucky me to have them in my classroom.

Horsey Teacher + Horsey Students + Horses = Happiness

I invited two of my horsey students out to the barn this evening to meet Abby and her pasture pals. The two girls remind me of myself at their ages - die-hard horse lovers!

MP is going to be an eighth grader at East Tipp, takes riding lessons, and wants to be an attorney working for animal rights. (Needless to say, she was quite interested in Abby's history.) MH will be a fifth grader in my class this fall. She, too, takes lessons and dreams of buying a Friesian some day.

 MP and MH meet Abby - I love this photo of the girls petting Abby and her obvious enjoyment of their attention.

 Of course, you-know-who has to poke his nose into everything. 

 He was fascinated with MH's hair and kept trying to grab it and tug it.

 Here he frisks CP for carrots while Hokey yawns with his mouth wide open.

Hokey nearly fell asleep under MH's ministrations.

The herd got far more carrots than usual and were quite happy with that! And, continuing the happy train of thought, Abby did some trotting and cantering, and her limp was far less noticeable tonight. In fact, it was absent part of the time. Maybe with more time she will heal completely? I can only hope for her sake that that becomes a reality.